Destination Branding - An Innovative Technique In Tourism Sector (With Special Reference To Kerala Tourism)

Brand is unique name and image that given for a product or service to attract consumers. The core concept of branding is identification and differentiation. Branding helps to identify goods or services of one seller and to differentiate it from those of competitors. Service branding is important due to the unique characteristics of service sector. Tourism is a major source of income in our economy. So it is desirable to take every effort to nourish tourism sector. Destination Branding thus, considered as a new strategy in service sector. It facilitates tourists to identify and distinguish their destination and can plan their journey. The study focused on the influence of place branding in promotion of tourism with special attention towards Kerala Tourism. There are different forms of tourism such as, heritage tourism, medical tourism, ecotourism, monsoon tourism, pilgrimage tourism, water tourism, adventure travel, industrial tourism and so on. Kerala is a blessed land which has high potential for tourism. Kerala brand can claim all the before said kinds of tourism. 30 visitors, randomly selected, were asked questions meant for data collection. Results revealed that majority of respondents have some knowledge about Kerala before they start their journey and they got such information from different Medias. Once they heard Kerala – God's own country, it gets stuck in their mind and they remember the same when they plan their holiday destination. This is the basic purpose for which branding meant to.